Reminder-Call for evidence focusing on DIFD's programme in Zambia

The Committee invites submissions on DFID’s programme in Zambia, including assessments of DFID’s priorities and how progress towards the MDGs can be ensured.

Reminder-Call for evidence

Zambia

Zambia faces many challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals:

• Poverty: 39% of Zambians live in extreme poverty
• Hunger: 46% of under-5 children are stunted, 5% acutely malnourished (wasted) and 15% underweight
• Maternal health:  An estimated 27% of married women have an unmet need for family planning and unsafe abortion accounts for 30% of maternal death
• Child mortality: 119 children per 1,000 die before their fifth birthday
• Education for all: In 2007 nearly 13,000 girls dropped out of school because of pregnancy
• Water and sanitation: Nearly 2.2 million rural people have no sanitation facility at all
• Private sector development: 67% of the rural population have no access to any financial services, and 58% of the adult population do not save at all.

DFID plans to spend £55 million in 2011-12 on its bilateral aid programme in Zambia, increasing to £63 million in 2014-15. Its programme focuses on three core work streams, namely Governance; Human and Social Development; and Results, Aid Effectiveness and Wealth Creation

The deadline for submitting written evidence is Thursday 23 February 2012 (Organisations and individuals wishing to submit evidence after this date can contact the Clerk of the committee David Harrison on his telephone number or e-mail, see Contact the committee.)

Written evidence submitted should:

Be no longer than 3000 words in length

• Have numbered paragraphs
• Avoid the use of colour or expensive-to-print material
• Be provided electronically in MS Word or Rich Text format (No PDF’s) by e-mail to indcom@parliament.uk.  If submitted by e-mail or e-mail attachment, a letter should also be sent validating the e-mail. The letterhead should contain your full postal address and contact details

Submissions can also be sent by post to International Development Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA.

View guidance on giving evidence to Select Committees.

Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within written evidence, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included. If a number of published documents are sent to accompany written evidence, these should be listed in the covering email.

• Written evidence submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Record Office. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence. 
• It would be helpful, for Data Protection purposes, if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
• Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.